THE WORLD'S DEBT TO THE IRISH 
tury an [rish Art which astonished the world. From 
Ireland it spread its influence not only to Great 
Britain, but over a considerable part of West, North 
and Central Europe. However it came, the art of 
illumination was cultivated in the Irish monasteries 
with a success which has not been reached elsewhere. 
It is not too much to say that in the art of illumina- 
tion the early Christian artist of Ireland has never 
been excelled. His inexhaustible exuberance and in- 
vention seem almost uncanny, and equally remark- 
able, or almost so, are his inimitable delicacy of 
execution and the uniform certainty of his marvel- 
lous hand.” 
Very probably the easiest and surest criterion for 
the estimation of the level of culture which a people 
has reached at a particular period of their develop- 
ment is that which is to be revealed by the kind of 
books they make. For the appreciation of books is 
the best index of that interest in the things of the 
mind rather than the body which represents the 
elimination of barbaric instincts and the cultivation 
of intellectual interests. Whenever beautiful books 
are made it is a demonstration of artistic taste in 
the makers but also in the users of them. The 
patience required for the execution of genuine art of 
high excellence will soon be exhausted unless there 
is a reasonable prospect of admiration for the 
products of it. Manifestly the Irish must have been 
a cultivated people in the best sense of that term or 
such beautiful books as we have from them would 
not have been made by them and for them. 
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